Equal Access to Speech and Touch Input

ABSTRACT

Input access may be provided. A user interface may be displayed on a user device. Upon receiving a selection of at least one element of the user interface, a plurality of input receiving modes of the user device may be activated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application and claims priority toU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/372,850, filed Feb. 14, 2012, andentitled “Equal Access to Speech and Touch Input,” which application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Equal access to input modes may be provided. In conventional systems,adding speech input capability to an existing touch interface takes oneof two forms—either an icon is added to a text field to signal speech isavailable or a button is added to the keyboard. The disadvantage ofadding icons to all text fields is that it visually clutters the userinterface because all speech enabled fields need to have an icon. Thedisadvantage of putting a microphone on a keyboard is that it makesspeaking to the device two steps away: first, you have to tap the fieldto bring up a keyboard and then you have to press a separate button tospeak. Creating an extra step can reduce the likelihood of people usingspeech and users are more likely to start typing since they'rehabituated into that behavior.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter. Neither is thisSummary intended to be used to limit the claimed subject matter's scope.

Input access may be provided. A user interface may be displayed on auser device. Upon receiving a selection of at least one element of theuser interface, a plurality of input receiving modes of the user devicemay be activated.

Both the foregoing general description and the following detaileddescription provide examples and are explanatory only. Accordingly, theforegoing general description and the following detailed descriptionshould not be considered to be restrictive. Further, features orvariations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. Forexample, embodiments may be directed to various feature combinations andsub-combinations described in the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this disclosure, illustrate various embodiments of the presentinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an operating environment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example user interface;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for providing input mode access; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawingsand the following description to refer to the same or similar elements.While embodiments of the invention may be described, modifications,adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example,substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elementsillustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may bemodified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosedmethods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limitthe invention.

Equal access to different input modes may be provided. When a userselects a speech-enabled field in a user interface, a listening statemay be triggered and/or a keyboard interface element may be displayed.Example phrases may be displayed to help set user expectations of whatcan be input via speech based on what type of field the user tapped(e.g., full dictation vs. listening for a more scoped set of things likea credit card number). Once the user begins inputting data via one ofthe modes, the other input modes may be deactivated. For example, as theuser begins speaking, the keyboard display may be removed from the userinterface.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an operating environment 100 for providingequal access to input modes comprising a user device 110. User device110 may comprise a display 115 operative to output application dataand/or user interfaces, such as a monitor and/or touchscreen. Userdevice 110 may comprise, for example, an electronic communicationsdevice such as a computer, laptop, cellular and/or IP phone, tablet,game console and/or other device. User device 110 may also comprise aplurality of input mode components 120(A)-(C) such as a keyboard inputmode component and/or a microphone coupled to a speech input modecomponent. The speech input mode component (e.g., input mode component120(A)) may provide audio inputs to a speech understanding service 130for conversion into a text format and content analysis.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example user interface 200 comprising aplurality of input fields 210(A)-(D). User interface 200 may indicatethat input modes are available such as by displaying a touchscreenkeyboard 225, an animation, a microphone icon 230, and/or another visualeffect proximate to an active one of the plurality of input fields210(A)-(D). User interface 200 may also display an example input 235according to a type of the active one of the plurality of input fields210(A)-(D). Upon receiving an input, such as a spoken input to theactive one of the plurality of input fields 210(A)-(D), user interface200 may display an indication 240 that the input is being received, suchas by displaying “listening” while spoken input is being received.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart setting forth the general stages involved in amethod 300 consistent with an embodiment of the invention for providinginput mode access. Method 300 may be implemented using a computingdevice 400 as described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 3.Ways to implement the stages of method 300 will be described in greaterdetail below. Method 300 may begin at starting block 305 and proceed tostage 310 where computing device 400 may receive a selection of anelement of a user interface. Such elements may be displayed on display115 of user device 110. Inputs may be received by plurality of inputmode components 120(A)-(C), such as a keyboard, a stylus, a mouse, atouchscreen, a motion/gesture capture component, and/or a microphone.

Method 300 may then advance to stage 315 where computing device 400 mayidentify a type of the selected user interface element. For example,input field 210(A) may comprise a name input field, input field 210(B)may comprise a time/date input field, and input field 210(C) maycomprise a text subject field. For another example, input field 210(C)may comprise a free-form input field. Inputs to this field may beprovided to speech understanding service 130 to determine the user'sintent. For example, when the user says “I'd like to meet with Brian at4 pm tomorrow,” speech understanding service 130 may determine that theintent is to schedule a meeting, Brian is the contact name, and 4 pmtomorrow is the meeting time.

Method 300 may then advance to stage 320 where computing device 400 mayactivate a plurality of input modes according to the identified type.For example, when the text subject input field 210(C) is selected, userdevice 110 may activate at least a speech input mode and a keyboardinput mode.

Method 300 may then advance to stage 325 where computing device 400 maydisplay at least one example input according to the identified type. Forexample, when the text subject input field 210(C) is selected, apreviously used subject may be displayed, such as “ex. marketingmaterials”. Other displays may comprise frequently entered inputs by theuser and/or common inputs to an input field of that type.

Method 300 may then advance to stage 330 where computing device 400 mayreceive an input for the selected user interface element. For example,the user may speak a subject as the input to text subject input field210(C).

Method 300 may then advance to stage 335 where computing device 400 mayde-activate any unused input modes. For example, when a spoken input isreceived by a spoken input component (e.g., input component 120(A)),other input components may be deactivated, such as by removingtouchscreen keyboard 225 from display 115 and/or turning off speechrecognition when the user begins typing on touchscreen keyboard 225.

Method 300 may then advance to stage 340 where computing device 400 maydisplay an indicator that the active input mode is receiving the input.For example, user device 110 may display microphone icon 230 whilespoken input is being received and/or adjust a visual effect on thedisplay, such as by animating a glow effect on an icon and/or the inputfield.

Method 300 may then advance to stage 345 where computing device 400 mayprocess the received input. For example, the displayed example input maybe removed from the user interface. A spoken input may be provided tospeech recognition service 130, which may be optimized according to thetype of the selected input element. The recognized input may be receivedfrom speech recognition service 130 and the user interface element maybe populated with the recognized input. Method 300 may then end at stage350.

An embodiment consistent with the invention may comprise a system forproviding input mode access. The system may comprise a memory storageand a processing unit coupled to the memory storage. The processing unitmay be operative to display a user interface on a user device, receive aselection of at least one element of the user interface, and activate aplurality of input receiving elements of the user device.

Another embodiment consistent with the invention may comprise a systemfor providing input mode access. The system may comprise a memorystorage and a processing unit coupled to the memory storage. Theprocessing unit may be operative to display a user interface, receive aselection of an element of the user interface, activate a plurality ofinput receiving modes, receive an input via a first input receiving modeof the plurality of input receiving modes, and deactivate at least onesecond input receiving mode of the plurality of input receiving modes.The processing unit may be further operative to display an availabilityindicator associated with at least the first input mode proximate to theelement of the user interface, display a second availability indicatorassociated with at least one available output mode proximate to theelement of the user interface, and/or identify a type of the element ofthe user interface and activate a subset of the plurality of inputreceiving modes according to the type of the element of the userinterface. The processing unit may be further operative to receive aselection of the element of the user interface and display an exampleinput appropriate to the element of the user interface.

Yet another embodiment consistent with the invention may comprise asystem for providing input mode access. The system may comprise a memorystorage and a processing unit coupled to the memory storage. Theprocessing unit may be operative to receive a selection of at least onefirst element of a plurality of user interface, identify a first type ofthe at least one first element of the plurality of user interfaceelements, activate at least a first subset of a plurality of input modesaccording to the first type, display at least one example inputaccording to the first type, and receive a spoken input to the at leastone first element of the plurality of user interface elements. Theprocessing unit may be further operative to de-activate at least oneother input element, display an indicator that the speech input mode isreceiving the spoken input, and remove the display of the at least oneexample input from the user interface. The processing unit may befurther operative to provide the spoken input to a speech recognizer,wherein the speech recognizer is optimized according to the first typeof the at least one first element, receive a recognized input from thespeech recognizer, populate the user interface element with therecognized input, receive a selection of at least one second element ofthe plurality of user interface elements, identify a second type of theat least one first element of the plurality of user interface elements,and activate at least a second subset of the plurality of input modesaccording to the second type for the at least one second element.

The embodiments and functionalities described herein may operate via amultitude of computing systems, including wired and wireless computingsystems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, tablet orslate type computers, laptop computers, etc.). In addition, theembodiments and functionalities described herein may operate overdistributed systems, where application functionality, memory, datastorage and retrieval and various processing functions may be operatedremotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such asthe Internet or an intranet. User interfaces and information of varioustypes may be displayed via on-board computing device displays or viaremote display units associated with one or more computing devices. Forexample user interfaces and information of various types may bedisplayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which userinterfaces and information of various types are projected. Interactionwith the multitude of computing systems with which embodiments of theinvention may be practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry,voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computingdevice is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality forcapturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling thefunctionality of the computing device, and the like. FIG. 4 and theassociated descriptions provide a discussion of a variety of operatingenvironments in which embodiments of the invention may be practiced.However, the devices and systems illustrated and discussed with respectto FIG. 4 are for purposes of example and illustration and are notlimiting of a vast number of computing device configurations that may beutilized for practicing embodiments of the invention, described herein.

With reference to FIG. 4, a system consistent with an embodiment of theinvention may include a computing device, such as computing device 400.In a basic configuration, computing device 400 may include at least oneprocessing unit 402 and a system memory 404. Depending on theconfiguration and type of computing device, system memory 404 maycomprise, but is not limited to, volatile (e.g. random access memory(RAM)), non-volatile (e.g. read-only memory (ROM)), flash memory, or anycombination. System memory 404 may include operating system 405, one ormore programming modules 406, and may comprise speech recognitionservice 130. Operating system 405, for example, may be suitable forcontrolling computing device 400's operation. Furthermore, embodimentsof the invention may be practiced in conjunction with a graphicslibrary, other operating systems, or any other application program andis not limited to any particular application or system. This basicconfiguration is illustrated in FIG. 4 by those components within adashed line 408.

Computing device 400 may have additional features or functionality. Forexample, computing device 400 may also include additional data storagedevices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magneticdisks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated inFIG. 4 by a removable storage 409 and a non-removable storage 410.Computing device 400 may also contain a communication connection 416that may allow device 400 to communicate with other computing devices418, such as over a network in a distributed computing environment, forexample, an intranet or the Internet. Communication connection 416 isone example of communication media.

The term computer readable media as used herein may include computerstorage media. Computer storage media may include volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information, such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Systemmemory 404, removable storage 409, and non-removable storage 410 are allcomputer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage.) Computer storagemedia may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, electricallyerasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other opticalstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tostore information and which can be accessed by computing device 400. Anysuch computer storage media may be part of device 400. Computing device400 may also have input device(s) 412 such as a keyboard, a mouse, apen, a sound input device, a touch input device, a capture device, etc.A capture device may be operative to record a user and capture spokenwords, motions and/or gestures made by the user, such as with a cameraand/or microphone. The capture device may comprise any speech and/ormotion detection device capable of detecting the speech and/or actionsof the user. For example, the capture device may comprise a Microsoft®Kinect® motion capture device comprising a plurality of cameras and aplurality of microphones. Output device(s) 414 such as a display,speakers, a printer, etc. may also be included. The aforementioneddevices are examples and others may be used.

The term computer readable media as used herein may also includecommunication media. Communication media may be embodied by computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other datain a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term“modulated data signal” may describe a signal that has one or morecharacteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode informationin the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communicationmedia may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wiredconnection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF),infrared, and other wireless media.

As stated above, a number of program modules and data files may bestored in system memory 404, including operating system 405. Whileexecuting on processing unit 402, programming modules 406 may performprocesses and/or methods as described above. The aforementioned processis an example, and processing unit 402 may perform other processes.Other programming modules that may be used in accordance withembodiments of the present invention may include electronic mail andcontacts applications, word processing applications, spreadsheetapplications, database applications, slide presentation applications,drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc.

Generally, consistent with embodiments of the invention, program modulesmay include routines, programs, components, data structures, and othertypes of structures that may perform particular tasks or that mayimplement particular abstract data types. Moreover, embodiments of theinvention may be practiced with other computer system configurations,including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments of theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may be practiced in anelectrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged orintegrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizinga microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements ormicroprocessors. Embodiments of the invention may also be practicedusing other technologies capable of performing logical operations suchas, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but not limited tomechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. In addition,embodiments of the invention may be practiced within a general purposecomputer or in any other circuits or systems.

Embodiments of the invention, for example, may be implemented as acomputer process (method), a computing system, or as an article ofmanufacture, such as a computer program product or computer readablemedia. The computer program product may be a computer storage mediareadable by a computer system and encoding a computer program ofinstructions for executing a computer process. The computer programproduct may also be a propagated signal on a carrier readable by acomputing system and encoding a computer program of instructions forexecuting a computer process. Accordingly, the present invention may beembodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, residentsoftware, micro-code, etc.). In other words, embodiments of the presentinvention may take the form of a computer program product on acomputer-usable or computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the mediumfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. Acomputer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that cancontain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for useby or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice.

The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagationmedium. More specific computer-readable medium examples (anon-exhaustive list), the computer-readable medium may include thefollowing: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portablecomputer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM). Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable mediumcould even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program isprinted, as the program can be electronically captured, via, forinstance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled,interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary,and then stored in a computer memory.

Embodiments of the invention may be practiced via a system-on-a-chip(SOC) where each and/or many of the components illustrated above may beintegrated onto a single integrated circuit. Such an SOC device mayinclude one or more processing units, graphics units, communicationsunits, system virtualization units and various applicationfunctionalities, all of which may be integrated (or “burned”) onto thechip substrate as a single integrated circuit. When operating via anSOC, the functionality, described herein, with respect to trainingand/or interacting with any component of operating environment 100 mayoperate via application-specific logic integrated with other componentsof the computing device/system on the single integrated circuit (chip).

Embodiments of the present invention, for example, are described abovewith reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations ofmethods, systems, and computer program products according to embodimentsof the invention. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur outof the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown insuccession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or theblocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending uponthe functionality/acts involved.

While certain embodiments of the invention have been described, otherembodiments may exist. Furthermore, although embodiments of the presentinvention have been described as being associated with data stored inmemory and other storage mediums, data can also be stored on or readfrom other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storagedevices, like hard disks, floppy disks, or a CD-ROM, a carrier wave fromthe Internet, or other forms of RAM or ROM. Further, the disclosedmethods' stages may be modified in any manner, including by reorderingstages and/or inserting or deleting stages, without departing from theinvention.

All rights including copyrights in the code included herein are vestedin and the property of the Applicants. The Applicants retain and reserveall rights in the code included herein, and grant permission toreproduce the material only in connection with reproduction of thegranted patent and for no other purpose.

While certain embodiments of the invention have been described, otherembodiments may exist. While the specification includes examples, theinvention's scope is indicated by the following claims. Furthermore,while the specification has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, the claims are notlimited to the features or acts described above. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts described above are disclosed as example forembodiments of the invention.

We claim:
 1. A method for providing input access, the method comprising:displaying a user interface on a user device; receiving a selection ofat least one element of the user interface; and activating a pluralityof input receiving modes of the user device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein at least one first element of the input receiving modes of theuser device comprises a listening state.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising: receiving a spoken input to the at least one firstmodes of the receiving modes; and providing the spoken input to a speechrecognizer.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one second modeof the input receiving mode of the user device comprises a keyboardelement displayed on the user interface.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving an input from the user via at least onefirst element of the plurality of input receiving modes; anddeactivating at least one second mode of the plurality of inputreceiving elements.
 6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:receiving a selection of at least one second element of the userinterface; and re-activating the plurality of input receiving modes ofthe user device.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receivingan input from the user via at least one first mode of the plurality ofinput receiving modes; and displaying the received input in the selectedat least one element of the user interface.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving an input from the user via at least onefirst mode of the plurality of input receiving modes; and displaying anindicator that the at least one element of the user interface isactively receiving the input.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a selection of a non-input element of the userinterface; and de-activating the plurality of input receiving modes ofthe user device.
 10. A system for providing input access, the systemcomprising: a memory storage; and a processing unit coupled to thememory storage, wherein the processing unit is operable to: display auser interface, receive a selection of an element of the user interface,activate a plurality of input receiving modes, receive an input via afirst input receiving mode of the plurality of input receiving modes,and deactivate at least one second input receiving mode of the pluralityof input receiving modes.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein theprocessing unit is further operative to: display an availabilityindicator associated with at least the first input mode proximate to theelement of the user interface.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein theprocessing unit is further operative to: display a second availabilityindicator associated with at least one available output mode proximateto the element of the user interface.
 13. The system of claim 10,wherein the processing unit is further operative to: identify a type ofthe element of the user interface; and activate a subset of theplurality of input receiving modes according to the type of the elementof the user interface.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the activatedsubset of the plurality of input receiving modes comprises a keyboardinput mode comprising a non-standard keyboard layout.
 15. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the processing unit is further operative to: receive aselection of the element of the user interface; and display an exampleinput appropriate to the element of the user interface.
 16. The systemof claim 15, wherein the example input comprises a text display.
 17. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the example input comprises a plurality ofinput options.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the plurality ofinput options comprises a list of inputs selectable via at least one ofthe input receiving modes.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein theplurality of input options comprise a list of frequently received inputsaccording to a type of the element of the user interface.
 20. Acomputer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which whenexecuted performs a method for providing input access, the methodexecuted by the set of instructions comprising: receiving a selection ofat least one first element of a plurality of user interface elementsdisplayed on a user device wherein the user device is operative toreceive the selection via at least one of a plurality of input modescomprising at least one of the following: a keyboard, a stylus, a mouse,a touchscreen, and a microphone; identifying a first type of the atleast one first element of the plurality of user interface elements;activating at least a first subset of a plurality of input modesaccording to the first type, wherein the first subset of the pluralityof input modes comprise at least a speech input mode and a keyboardinput mode; displaying at least one example input according to the firsttype; receiving a spoken input to the at least one first element of theplurality of user interface elements via the speech input mode;de-activating at least the keyboard input mode; displaying an indicatorthat the speech input mode is receiving the spoken input; removing thedisplay of the at least one example input from the user interface;providing the spoken input to a speech recognizer, wherein the speechrecognizer is optimized according to the first type of the at least onefirst element; receiving a recognized input from the speech recognizer;populating the user interface element with the recognized input;receiving a selection of at least one second element of the plurality ofuser interface elements; identifying a second type of the at least onefirst element of the plurality of user interface elements; andactivating at least a second subset of the plurality of input modesaccording to the second type for the at least one second element.